ROADMAP TO THE NEXT TRANSPORTATION BILL: The Senate EPW Committee’s “big four” have agreed in principle on how to proceed with the next transportation bill — now it’s just up to the Finance Committee to find the tens of billions of dollars needed to keep the Highway Trust Fund afloat. At a Thursday morning presser in the Capitol, EPW Chair Barbara Boxer, ranking member David Vitter and transportation panel leaders Tom Carper and John Barrasso laid out an ambitious goal: a six-year bill that adjusts current spending levels for inflation, maintains existing formula programs, better utilizes local resources and improves information-sharing for federal grantees. Despite broad agreement on the need to act, the money hunt will be difficult — a six-year bill will cost around $100 billion, even more if lawmakers want to avoid leaving the trust fund broke again at the end of the six years.

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A fork in the road: Lawmakers have two different big transportation issues to address in the coming months — the Highway Trust Fund is set to go broke this July, with road and transit policy expiring at the end of September. Boxer wants to deal with those two issues together in one bill that gets passed before the fund goes insolvent, saying that “we don’t have a Plan B for our committee” and that leaders “are moving fast in order to avoid any kind of patch.” But House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster is approaching things differently. “Yeah, definitely two separate issues,” he said when MT asked him for his thoughts. “We’re trying to figure out how to do it. We’ve been talking to leadership but nothing’s been resolved.” Shuster added that he “would love a longer-term, multiple-year bill, certainly longer than two years,” but that it all comes down to how much money can be raised.

Pessimism vs. optimism: South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee that controls a slice of the bill, told MT that “it’s hard to see that it gets done this year.” Most of the blame for Thune’s pessimism lies with the needed offset, he said, stressing that general fund transfers are “not a sustainable formula for the future.” EPW member Jim Inhofe, who played a huge rule in MAP-21 as the panel’s ranking member two years ago, said that lawmakers “should be optimistic” about the bill, adding that “it should be enjoying the highest priority of anything we’re dealing with, second only to national defense.” But that’s not the case, is it, senator? “I’m afraid it’s not.” Kathryn and your morning host combine forces for the Pro story: http://politico.pro/1gdCmJf

FOXX’S ROAD TRIP: Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx starts an eight-state, five-day road trip next week to “showcase the importance of transportation investment” as the trust fund stares down bankruptcy. Dubbed “Invest in America, Commit to the Future,” the tour will start in Columbus, Ohio, and end in Dallas. In between, Foxx will stop by cities of all sizes: Dayton, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta, Anniston, Birmingham, Demopolis, Jackson, Madison Parish and Shreveport. He’ll be visiting “manufacturers, bridges, freight facilities, and highway projects” to boost awareness of the “infrastructure deficit” caused by falling Highway Trust Fund balances and increased needs, according to DOT. You can track the progress of the road-trip with a handy map ( http://1.usa.gov/1hmnLfu) or read more from Foxx himself on his DOT blog ( http://1.usa.gov/1kwMUXX).

HAPPY FRIDAY! Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports, where on this in 1921, Iowa became the first U.S. state to implement a cigarette tax. Please be in touch: asnider@politico.com and @ AdamKSnider on Twitter.

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TOTAL RECALL: General Motors is expanding its previous recall for faulty ignition switches to include the entire ignition lock cylinder, saying the part can “allow removal of the ignition key while the engine is running, leading to a possible rollaway, crash and occupant or pedestrian injuries.” The automaker said it knows of “several hundred” complaints of keys coming out of the ignition, but has found only one crash and one injury related to the problem, with no fatalities. The move will cost GM even more money than it previously thought — it upped its recall cost estimate to $1.3 billion, well above the $750 million price tag it predicted less than two weeks ago. Automotive News has a good diagram of the assembly: http://bit.ly/1i5VDwV

On leave: Two GM engineers involved in approving a faulty ignition switch that led to at least 13 deaths have been placed on paid leave, CEO Mary Barra said yesterday in the automaker’s first internal disciplinary action in the wake of the recall of millions of cars around the world. “This is an interim step as we seek the truth about what happened,” Barra said in a statement. “It was a difficult decision, but I believe it is best for GM.” Barra also announced a “Speak Up For Safety” program designed to reward employees that point out safety problems or offer other ideas to make GM cars safer.

Reaction from the Hill: Sen. Claire McCaskill praised GM’s move. “It’s about time,” she said in a statement. “Of the many frustrating moments in our hearing last week, an especially surreal one was learning that the GM employee who had obviously committed perjury hadn’t even been suspended and was still on the job in a role with a direct impact on the safety of GM’s products.” Fellow Commerce member Richard Blumenthal wasn’t satisfied, though, saying that discipline didn’t go far enough and that the automaker needs to tell owners to stop driving the vehicles in question ( http://politico.pro/1gQUMeY). “This minor disciplinary step sadly neglects drivers still in serious danger,” he said. Rep. Diana DeGette said the announcement “shows they continue to take this investigation seriously, and I take this news as a sign of progress.”

HOUSE DEMS TARGET TSA’S BEHAVIORAL PROGRAM: Four key House Democrats want to know why the TSA is expanding part of its controversial SPOT behavioral detection program that has drawn strong opposition on the Hill. The lawmakers asked about the “Targeted Conversation” program, under which travelers who refuse to answer questions from behavior detection officers are forced to undergo secondary screening. The program “represents an intrusion into the privacy of the flying public through a process TSA has not scientifically validated,” the members wrote to TSA Administrator John Pistole. The letter was signed by Homeland Security ranking member Bennie Thompson, transportation security panel ranking member Cedric Richmond, Judiciary Committee top Dem John Conyers and Oversight and Government Reform’s Elijah Cummings. Read it: http://1.usa.gov/1iz6mfS

THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)

— February’s winter weather was bad news for airlines — on-time rates were 10 percentage points below the same month a year ago. The AP: http://bit.ly/1qlGLNI

— Federal Air Marshal Service head Robert Bray resigns amidst a probe into a plan to acquire guns for personal use. Fox News: http://fxn.ws/1i6WWMc

— Lufthansa Technik announces it will build a new aviation facility in Puerto Rico. The AP: http://abcn.ws/1gfVTc2

— The American Automotive Policy Council threatens to oppose a major trade deal that doesn’t include “a strong enforceable currency provision.” POLITICO Pro: http://politico.pro/1hnKDvc

— WMATA files a formal, written response to an FTA reporting finding major problems with grants. http://bit.ly/1lUoGqC

THE COUNTDOWN: MAP-21 expires and DOT funding runs out in 173 days. FAA policy is up in 538 days. The mid-term elections are in 207 days and the 2016 presidential election is in 942 days.

CABOOSE — Subway maps: There’s a range of styles of subway maps out there — so one amateur cartographer created a standardized system and made maps for systems around the world that make it look like you could connect all the systems of the world like pieces of a puzzle. The Atlantic Cities: http://bit.ly/1kafXhr

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** A message from the U.S. Travel Association: To make America competitive again, we need to be connected, to each other and the world. America has zero airports ranked in the top 25 globally, and that's more than just an embarrassment—it's a missed opportunity. Travel is critical to our country's trade balance, since it accounts for ten percent of all exports, and supports one in nine American jobs. If we're not connected through modern airports, America loses out. Investment in our country's infrastructure is an investment in connectivity, which is vital for our people, our economy, and our place on the global stage. Learn more: http://bit.ly/1QLPK5L **

Authors:

About The Author

Adam Snider is a transportation reporter for POLITICO Pro and author of Morning Transportation. He has covered transportation since 2007, joining POLITICO in 2011 to launch MT and later found the word “Mica-ism.”

Snider is a fan of all modes of transportation, though nothing beats a good silly walk. In his spare time, he can be found brewing a hoppy beer, rooting for the Nationals, watching a bad 1970s horror movie or exploring the District from his home base in Mount Pleasant.

Adam studied English and communications at Clemson University in South Carolina. His work has been featured by Nieman Journalism Lab and his snark has appeared on MSNBC. He has had several works of fiction published in literary journals and is constantly reminded of his proclamation to a fiction professor many years ago that journalism is for sellouts who abandon their creative dreams.